'Wal-Mart paid millions of dollars in bribes in India': Report

America's multinational retail corporation Wal-Mart is suspected to have paid bribes worth millions of dollars in India, according to The Wall Street Journal

New Delhi: Wal-Mart, the multinational retail giant has allegedly paid bribes worth millions of dollars to firm up business in India, according to The Wall Street Journal

According to a NDTV report, the retail giant paid thousands of small payments to low-level local officials to help move goods through customs or obtain real-estate permits.

The report adds that the vast majority of the suspicious payments were less than US $200, and some were as low as US $5, the people said, but when added together they totalled millions of dollars.

According to The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators "found evidence of bribery in India, centering on widespread but relatively small payments made to local officials there," during  the course of its "high-profile federal probe" into allegations of widespread corruption at Wal-Mart Stores Inc's operations in Mexico.

The investigations though have found little in the way of major offenses in Mexico, and is likely to result in a much smaller case than investigators first expected, the daily said.